


Campus Couple

by heros_wings



Category: GOT7
Genre: AU, Cheesy, College AU, Fluff, M/M, because i am trash, implied Jackbum, jinyoung in so much denial
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 15:02:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8166083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heros_wings/pseuds/heros_wings
Summary: Mark and Jinyoung have been friends since their first year of University, and have been the the famous “campus couple” since their second year. They're not even dating.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Exploring a more playful/mischievous side of Mark was kind of fun, I hope you all enjoy! ^^
> 
> And thank you to Jaehwangjung, who liked this story enough to translate into Vietnamese! ^^
> 
> 1\. GOT7 MarkJin 1st Vietnamese fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/JinMarkVN/photos/a.313064488871693.1073741828.313016585543150/789429584568512/?type=3&theater  
> 2\. GOT7 couples and others fiction world (wordpress): https://jaehwangjung.wordpress.com/2017/06/19/trans-fic-markjin-campus-couple/  
> 3\. Jaehwangjung (wattpad): https://www.wattpad.com/428171521-trans-fic-got7-markjin-campus-couple-campus
> 
> I'm always happy to get translation requests, so please just comment and ask so I know it's being done <3

The first time Jinyoung heard the term “campus couple,” it was in Jackson's loud, carrying voice across the Student Union as Jinyoung and Mark walked towards him. Heads turned. Jackson’s obnoxious _“HAHA!”_ echoed through the whispers, and Jaebum’s amused grin could be seen through the curious looks of nameless peers staring at them over homework and cheap coffee. Mark and Jinyoung looked at each other, their heads tilted almost identically in question. And in that single, fleeting moment of their second year, they became the famous campus couple.

After two years, Jinyoung had grown tired of the number of times he said, “we’re not dating” “ _no_ , Mark is not my boyfriend” “we’re just _friends_.” But no one seemed to understand. Or maybe they didn’t want to. More than once, Jaebum unhelpfully pointed out that Jinyoung and Mark _did_ look quite nice together. It was a thought Jinyoung very pointedly never allowed himself to think too deeply about. 

They were _friends_. Jinyoung didn't think a word existed for how even the idea of dating Mark made him feel. _Weird_ simply didn't cover the cold chill that ran down his arms and spine, or the way his mind turned into a blur of incoherent thoughts because it simply couldn't wrap itself around the _idea_ that he and Mark would be anything other than what they were.

Mark only made things worse. Laughing and slinging his arm around Jinyoung when the stares and the whispers followed them. Holding the gaze of strangers, either curious or disapproving, when they were together.

“It’s not like it’s their business,” he had said once with a shrug. “Besides, they won’t believe you anymore the three-hundredth time you’ve told them than the first.”

Three-hundred and seventy-seventh time, but who was counting, really.

At least they were finally starting their fourth and final year. After graduation, Jinyoung would never have to hear the words _campus couple_ again.

“Should we try actually dating this year?” Mark teased, throwing his arm around Jinyoung's neck, his mouth split into a wide, amused smile.

“Yah!” Jinyoung tried to jerk away from under his arm, but Mark tightened his hold.

“It could be worse,” he mused, his eyes glinting mischievously. “I could be Jackson.”

Jinyoung shoved him away with an annoyed scowl.

“ _We’re not dating!”_

“No one else thinks so,” Mark grinned.

Rolling his eyes, Jinyoung walked off, lengthening his stride, hoping Mark wouldn't follow.

“We _would_ make a good looking couple,” Mark sighed, easily falling into stride beside him, and slinging his arm around Jinyoung’s neck again.

“Isn't that the whole premise behind this ridiculous campus couple thing…” he muttered, not bothering to shrug him off this time.

Several girls tittered and gossiped in low, excited whispers as they passed.

“That's them!” Jinyoung heard one hiss to her friend.

“They’re so cute together!” her friend whined.

Jinyoung scowled as Mark flashed a brilliant smile.

“See?”

He saw. And he kind of wanted to shove Mark into oncoming traffic, but there were too many witnesses.

Laughing, Mark removed his arm and shoved his hands in his pockets. The cool, dry, autumn air bit at Jinyoung's skin through his thin sweater. He rubbed his arms absently as they walked through campus.

“Ok, so no campus couple...but do you want to go out with me tonight anyway?”

Jinyoung eyed him suspiciously. “Why?”

A wide grin spread across Mark's face, showing his pointed teeth, which, Jinyoung had learned over the years, was a sign that he most definitely didn't want to agree to whatever it was Mark had in mind.

He pushed the library doors open, and noted with slight disappointment that Mark didn't burst into flame when he followed. Maybe he should start studying in a church, he thought grumpily. Surely Mark wouldn't survive _that_.

Sighing, he deposited his books in the return box and started towards the stairs. He knew he would regret the next word that came out of his mouth.

“Fine.”

*

 

“I hate you,” he growled. 

Mark smiled apologetically and lunged to grab his arm as he spun on his heel to leave.

“Just this once—”

“ _I can't believe you told them we were dating,”_ he hissed venomously.

Mark pouted. Jinyoung _really_ wanted to punch him.

“They keep trying to set me up on blind dates.” He clung to Jinyoung as they approached his friends from the exchange program.

“And _this_ is your solution?!”

“We’re the campus couple—”

“WE’RE NOT A COUPLE!”

“ _Please_ , Jinyoung.”

Jinyoung scowled.

“Just for the night,” said Mark in one, final plea, his hands pressed together like a prayer. “I'll never ask again.”

That was a lie. Jinyoung _knew_ it was a lie. But, once their fingers laced together and they were within earshot of Mark’s friends, he couldn't muster the energy to argue.

 

*

 

Mark had been in the library more in the past three weeks than the entire four years Jinyoung had known him. He was now such a familiar sight, he found himself looking around for the mop of damaged blond hair whenever he entered. Mark always sat in the same corner — Jinyoung's favorite with windows on each wall and half the table hidden by bookshelves.

“Are you here all the time because you just realized our school had a library?” he greeted, dropping his bag on the table.

Mark looked up from his book and grinned. “Gotta study hard.”

“You're in all Phys. Ed. classes this semester,” Jinyoung deadpanned, dropping his Korean Literature textbook on the table with a loud _thump._

“We have tests.”

“Which you've never studied for.”

Mark's grin widened and he dropped his eyes back to the book. “Never too late to start.”

After a long pause, Jinyoung replied, “You're reading Harry Potter.”

 

* 

 

“We’re not dating,” he insisted for the three-hundred and eighty- _ninth_ time. And it seemed as though the frequency in which he was _reminding_ everyone (including Mark) of this fact, was increasing.

Jaebum’s eyebrow raised so high it was in danger of disappearing under the fringe Jackson had somehow convinced him to grow out.

“We’re _not_ ,” he repeated more firmly, fixing Jaebum with a glare as if that would make it more convincing.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not your hoodie,” Jaebum replied, nodding at the red hoodie with the Flash lightning bolt on the front.

Jinyoung frowned. “I fell asleep at his place—” he scowled when Jaebum’s lips curled into a smirk "—and had an early class.”

Jaebum snorted. Then started laughing.

“It was cold!”

Jaebum just smiled and replied with an indulgent hum that told Jinyoung he didn’t believe him at all.

Sulking, Jinyoung slid further into his seat and gripped the hoodie closer to himself. It was warm and smelled faintly of Mark, and even _he_ had to admit...it would be kind of hard to give it back.

 

*

 

“Don't even say it,” he growled threateningly.

Yugyeom, a second year Jinyoung thoroughly regretted befriending at least once a week, grinned at him from across the table in the campus coffee shop.

“You were voted _‘Cutest Couple’_!” Yugyeom laughed delightedly, waving the school paper in front of him.

Jinyoung reached over to strangle him with his own scarf, but Mark pulled him back.

With one arm still draped over the back of Jinyoung’s chair, he reached for the paper, which Yugyeom gleefully handed over. He frowned thoughtfully at the picture.

It was a candid photo, taken, presumably, by someone on the newspaper staff. The photographer had been slightly behind them, and caught a nice side profile of Jinyoung laughing, his face turned towards Mark, one hand covering his mouth out of habit, his eyes wrinkled at the corners. Mark was captured smiling back at him, eyes bright with laughter.

After several long moments,  Mark shrugged and tossed the paper on the table.

“At least we look good.”

Yugyeom’s cackle burst into loud, high-pitched laughter.

Jinyoung just sunk deeper into his seat.

It _was_ a nice photo.

 

* 

 

Jinyoung frowned as he watched Mark pouring over his Sports Medicine essay. It was Sunday night, and they were in Jinyoung and Jaebum’s shared apartment, finishing homework they neglected over the weekend.

He was...oddly content. Then again, being with Mark was always like this...

He was the one person Jinyoung _could_ study with and not want to throw out a window five minutes in. But this kind of comfort needled at him in a way it never did before.

For a moment, he let himself wonder what it would be like to date Mark.

 _Weird_ , came the first, stubborn thought.

 _Comfortable_.

Warm.

Familiar.

Kind of like the hoodie he had yet to return.

He watched Mark work, memorizing and taking in the way he bit his lip or narrowed his eyes whenever he paused. His fingers would rest lightly on the keys as he thought over a sentence or a particular word, before flying over them again once his thoughts came together. Jinyoung noticed his lips part in a quiet sigh just before he hit the backspace and deleted an entire sentence or paragraph. He watched Mark’s eyes dart across the screen as he read over his writing, brows furrowed in concentration. He would never admit his faint admiration for the way Mark could leave ten, twenty, page essays until the night before and still manage a B-average. Jinyoung always needed as much time as he could get just to be satisfied with the research.

When Mark looked up from his laptop and caught him staring, Jinyoung felt something — definitely not his heart — do a little back flip.

Mark tilted his head, amusement lurking behind his curious expression. Jinyoung’s stomach gave a weird, unfamiliar lurch.

“Hungry,” he grunted, getting up and heading into the kitchen as the heat rose to his cheeks.

Fever, he thought. He had a fever.

 

*

 

Jinyoung spent a week avoiding Mark. Whenever the other texted him, he'd wait several hours before replying with a short, _“sorry, fell asleep studying” or “can’t...busy.”_

When Mark showed up at his apartment, Jinyoung managed to slip away with a hurried excuse before Mark could see the embarrassing red tinge on his cheeks.

He knew he couldn't dodge him forever. But he could manage it until graduation. Maybe.

“You two are practically dating,” Jackson observed, learning back in his seat, and eyeing Jaebum at the counter, where he waited for their drinks. “I mean...you spend more time at our place than you do at yours...just kiss and get it over with.”

Jinyoung glared at him, regretting the day he allowed Jackson to sit next to him on their first day of University. This was _his_ fault. If he had never mentioned the ridiculous “campus couple” thing, none of this would have happened.

After two years of everyone _else_ believing the rumor, Jinyoung, logically, would wonder. It was the mere power of suggestion. Nothing else. It was completely normal to be curious.

_He didn't like Mark._

 

* 

 

“Did I do something?” Mark slid into the chair across from him at thei—

 _—his_ favorite table in the library.

Jinyoung looked up from his notes to see Mark frowning at him, his head tilted and eyebrows knitted together in concern.

After nearly two weeks, Jinyoung couldn't ignore the pang in his chest that told him how much he missed this...

He missed the calm that seemed to naturally flow off Mark and wrap around others. He missed the quiet mischief that lingered behind his eyes and bright smiles. He missed _Mark_.

After a long, slow exhale, he answered: “No.”

Mark’s frown deepened.

“You've been avoiding me.”

“Maybe a little…” he muttered, feeling his cheeks heat a little. It was becoming an annoyingly regular occurrence around Mark. “Can we...just not talk about it…”

Mark stared at him a while longer. Jinyoung shifted uncomfortably, avoiding his gaze. After a short silence, Mark nodded, pulled out his Harry Potter book, and opened it. Now it was Jinyoung’s turn to frown.

“Don't you have an essay due in your...soccer class or something?”

Mark grinned and looked up at him, chuckling a bit.

“It's International Sporting Events Management and Law...we’re discussing the Fifa scandal.”

“Don't bullshit...Jackson said you watched the South Korea versus Japan game in class yesterday.”

Grin widening, Mark looked back down at his book. And just like that, they were back to normal.

Jinyoung just wished his stomach didn't feel like he had swallowed an entire flock of butterflies.

 

*

 

Things returned to how they usually were. Mostly. Jinyoung still had Mark’s hoodie, and he hadn't asked for it back. It was warm and comfortable, and if Mark hadn't noticed it missing by now, surely Jinyoung could hold onto it a bit longer...

He still scoffed whenever he heard “campus couple,” and Mark had broken his promise not to drag him along on group dates at least three more times.

Even the butterflies seemed to subside. Being with Mark was comfortable again. This was how things were supposed to be. Why ruin everything they had with something so full of unknowns?

“You're wearing my hoodie.” Mark appeared, as he usually did, like a ghost, and plopped next to him.

Jinyoung glanced across the table and saw Mark’s usual spot taken over by the large stack of books he had piled there earlier. He looked blearily back at him, tired and stiff from pouring over his English essay. Outside the window, thick, heavy snow flakes piled up on the ledge. Wonderful.

Rubbing his eyes, he straightened his notes to give the appearance of someone _not_ on the edge of a mental break down. Or contemplating the very real possibility that medical school had to be easier than _this_ because _what kind of sadist_ assigns a ten page _all English_ essay comparing Korean and Western medieval literature?

“You used the wrong tense here…” Mark pointed to a word on his laptop he didn't even remember typing.

With a frustrated groan, Jinyoung let his forehead hit the table. He definitely should have listened to his parents and gone to medical school. Who even _needed_ English for a Korean Literature degree?

Mark gave the back of his neck a light squeeze. Jinyoung tensed, but Mark gave a few more gentle squeezes until, slowly, his shoulders relaxed, and he felt warmth spread through his body.

“Want me to help?”

Jinyoung turned his head to look at him. The soothing movements stopped, but Mark’s hand remained where it was.

They stared at each other. A beat. Two beats. Three beats too long.

Jinyoung felt something behind his navel give a gentle tug. His eyes traveled from Mark’s dark, curious gaze, to his lips. And he wondered again…

He lifted his head. Mark tilted his head in silent question. His thumb moved in slow strokes against Jinyoung’s neck, like he wasn't even aware of what he was doing.

Jinyoung thought his heart may just burst out of his chest. From anxiety or fear or pure anticipation...

“Hold still…” he reached for Mark’s sweater and curled his fingers into the soft fabric.

A nervous smile flickered across Mark’s lips.

“What?”

“I’m going to kiss you.”

He watched Mark’s eyes widen in shock, but when no protest came, he leaned forward and carefully covered Mark’s lips with his. It was barely a kiss. Just a hesitant, uncertain press of lips as his heart told him to move closer, and his head told him to run. And before he could decide which to listen to, Mark’s hand tightened on the back of his neck, and pulled him forward.

So this was what it was like, he thought, to kiss Mark…

To _really_ kiss him.

The library disappeared around him. His whirring thoughts quieted. He simply _felt_. He felt the way Mark’s lips moved against his — chapped but pliant and warm against his own. It was gentle and careful, but there was no hesitation in the way Mark pulled him closer, coaxing him deeper...

When they finally parted, Mark rested his forehead against his. His breath shallow and warm against Jinyoung’s lips, his cheeks flushed pink. And he was grinning.

“I’ve been waiting almost four years to do that.”

Jinyoung’s mouth dropped open in shock. _Four years_.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Mark kissed him gently again before replying playfully.

“I’ve asked you out at least five times this year.”

Jinyoung opened his mouth to retort, but found none came. He closed his eyes.

“Ask me again.”

Mark snorted back a soft laugh. “This is so cheesy.”

Jinyoung opened his eyes again and glared at him.

“You have five seconds before I change my mind.”

Grinning, he brushed a stray lock of hair out of Jinyoung’s eyes.

“Go on a date with me?”

 

*

 

In the following weeks, Jinyoung learned dating Mark hadn’t really changed anything. Jaebum and Jackson were still annoyingly smug about the whole thing; he still had Mark’s hoodie (two now, in fact); he _still_ hated being known as the “campus couple”; and this hatred was more profound now that he had unwittingly made the rumors _true_.

“What’s so bad about it?” Mark grinned as they walked to class, Jinyoung’s hand in his. A few students stared, and as usual, he ignored them.

Jinyoung glowered and jerked his hand away.

“I changed my mind. We’re not dating.”

Undeterred, Mark reached out and pulled him back. Jinyoung _hated_ how well he fit under his arm. He _really_ hated how easily his irritation melted away when Mark’s lips pressed against his temple in a quick kiss.

“You say that,” he sighed dramatically, “but you’re still wearing my hoodie.”

Jinyoung shoved his hands deep into the Spiderman hoodie he recently “borrowed.”

He was _so_ stealing the Captain America one next.


End file.
